After manhunt, Israel kills Palestinian behind deadly attack

UNB News

Publish Date - December 13, 2018, 01:58 PM

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A man holds a baby who died after being prematurely delivered after her mother Shira Ish-Ran was wounded in a shooting attack near Ofra settlement in the West Bank last Sunday, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo)

Jerusalem, Dec 13 (AP/UNB) — Israeli security forces tracked down a Palestinian accused of killing two Israelis and shot and killed him on Thursday, ending a two-month manhunt hours after troops killed another Palestinian wanted in a separate attack.

Israeli police said Ashraf Naalweh was found armed near the West Bank city of Nablus and was killed during an arrest raid.

Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since.

Police said it had made a number of arrests in its attempt to hunt down Naalweh and suspected he was planning on carrying out another attack.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed Salah Barghouti, a Palestinian suspect wanted in a drive-by shooting earlier this week at a West Bank bus stop, shooting him just hours after an Israeli baby delivered prematurely as a result of the attack died.

In Sunday night's attack, assailants in a Palestinian vehicle opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement, wounding seven people, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman, before speeding away.

The militant Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip said that both Barghouti and Naalweh were its members but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attacks the two carried out.

"The flame of resistance in the (West) Bank will remain alive until the occupation is defeated on all our land," Hamas said.

Also Thursday, police said an assailant stabbed two officers in Jerusalem's Old City, wounding them lightly. The officers opened fire on the attacker and he was killed, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Police identified the man as a 26-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank. It released security camera footage that shows the man lunging toward the officers and appearing to stab them.